OUR OPINION: Duxbury’s beach stickers

News that Duxbury Beach would be closed indefinitely due to nesting piping plovers was met with outrage by many residents and nonresidents alike who had already purchased parking stickers for the summer season.

The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

Writer

Posted Jun. 7, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jun 7, 2013 at 7:11 AM

Posted Jun. 7, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jun 7, 2013 at 7:11 AM

» Social News

News that Duxbury Beach would be closed indefinitely due to nesting piping plovers was met with outrage by many residents and nonresidents alike who had already purchased parking stickers for the summer season.

A Facebook page was started and within 48 hours had nearly 4,800 “likes.” From that, 600 people signed a letter to Town Manager Rene Read which consisted of a series of questions, such as who has ultimate authority over the beach and who made the decision to continue selling beach stickers.

As our above editorial makes clear, the decision to close the beach is ultimately made by its owner, the Duxbury Beach Reservation, in strict accordance with the Endangered Species Act. If the threatened Atlantic Coast piping plover or its nests could be threatened by human interaction, the area must be closed. The Reservation has no choice under the law if it wants the beach to be open to the public at all. Considering its efforts, it clearly does.

Both the town and its residents share the blame for the miscommunication. There exists in Duxbury a segment of the population which believes the beach is public and is owned by residents – in spite of constant efforts by the Reservation to educate people otherwise. Responsibility for the beach rests with the Reservation, though it welcomes and works seamlessly with the town to the benefit of the beach, the residents and the birds.

As for the stickers, they have a point. Read confirmed in a press conference on Wednesday that there would be a town meeting Monday night to discuss the issue more fully.

That’s good, but communication with residents and nonresident sticker holders should have been better. Read said the decision to close the beach on June 7 was announced at Monday’s Board of Selectmen hearing. Knowing what a central role the beach plays in the lives of residents and those along the South Shore, a press release should have been issued, posts made on social media, a town-wide call made. And a plan should have been in place to provide some measure of restitution.

While we don’t believe the town perpetrated fraud, as some have asserted, its representatives should have anticipated this kerfuffle and been prepared with a solution to those who paid for a service that cannot – at least for now – be rendered.